


Still A Better Love Story Than Kirk'light

by McKayRulez



Series: No Ship is Impossible [14]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Animism, Atlantis, Emotional Hurt, Fetish, Hurt Rodney McKay, Inanimate Objects, Interspecies Relationship(s), Kink Shaming, Mean John, Oblivious John, Other, Paraphilias, Rare Pairings, Sentient Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 10:31:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18915154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McKayRulez/pseuds/McKayRulez
Summary: Rodney loves Atlantis. John just doesn't understand.





	Still A Better Love Story Than Kirk'light

John peered over at McKay from the doorway, radio controlled cars in hand, waiting for the scientist to finish up. 

Rodney checked over a crystal he was calibrating with care. He muttered to himself. “Even though you’re delicate, you protect us.”

John tilted his head curious, and glanced over the empty lab, then back at his friend. 

“Some parts of you are fragile, I know.. Trust me, I know..” He stopped mid ramble, as he stood up and headed to the control panel, with the crystal he had finished configuring for. 

The Colonel lowered a brow confused at the words ‘fragile and delicate’. He glanced at his arm muscles, and subconsciously shifted, flexing them a little. 

“But I also know you’re very strong regardless and solid built..” 

Sheppard puffed out his chest slightly and thought, “Damn right, I am.”

“So intricate and defined.” 

John preened and flushed. 

“You’re so beautiful.” Rodney stated quietly to himself, with fondness in his eyes. 

“Beautiful? Seriously?” John finally spoke aloud, as he gave him a weird look, and shifted his body self conscious. He knew his hair had a bit of feminine softness to it, because of the product he used, but usually people just called him hot.. Handsome maybe… But never ‘beautiful’. 

Rodney jumped at his voice. He had been so enamored with his work, he never heard him arrive. He took in Sheppard’s strange expression and took offence. “Atlantis is very beautiful.” He crossed his arms and jutted his chin definitely. 

“Atlantis?” John repeated blankly. 

“Yeah. She’s stunning.” When he felt like he needed to explain that statement, he began to babble. “Even though her systems need constant maintenance, there's an elegance to their design, that makes her enjoyable to fix.” He tilted his head with a playful half smirk. “At least when she’s not being stubborn. Not to mention her sturdy, gleaming towers have suffered some water damage, but a lot of her mosaic gorgeous windows are still intact despite it. She had some problems from the flooding, and in the long space trip here, but she still kept her pride and dignity.. It’s.. inspiring.. in a way.” He sighed wistfully, love in his eyes as he looked over the firm metallic walls and ceiling. Then, when he noticed Sheppard’s confusion, he blinked, and motioned around the empty room. “Who did you think I was talking too?” 

“Uh..” The Colonel glanced away awkwardly. When he glanced back, McKay was still staring at him, waiting for a response. Instead, he tried to turn this back onto the scientist. “You’re flirting with the walls? You need to get out more, McKay. Without a girlfriend like Jennifer or Katie, you’re starting to get a little nutty.”

“I’m not crazy.” Rodney’s blue eyes looked at him hurt and offended. 

John smirked to himself, glad the prideful scientist took the bait. 

McKay winced at his expression, suddenly feeling like he had to defend himself, even if making excuses hurt how he really truly felt. “I’m just.. Eccentric..” He lied, painfully. “There’s a difference..” 

“Yeah.. Because sane people totally talk to themselves..” He rolled his eyes. “And eccentric people commonly drool over 'pretty windows'.” 

Rodney turned back to the control panel, biting back the anger and personal attack Sheppard had just made to one of (if not the only two) most important parts of him. His mind and his city. “What did you want, Colonel?” He asked through gritted teeth. His anxious fingers touching Atlantis for support. 

Sheppard raised the remote control for the cars up over his head. 

Rodney barely spared it a glance from the corner of his eye. “Not now.” 

“Busy?” Sheppard looked to the exposed panel, then to the scientist’s determined stare into it. “Or do you need some ‘alone time’ with the walls?” He smirked. 

Rodney ground his teeth saying nothing. Sheppard was making a joke out of him, laughing at his discomfort and expense like he always did. He told himself, he wasn’t going to play along this time. 

“Wow.. A silent McKay.. That’s a first..I’ll have to let Teyla and Ronon know I found your mouth's off switch, and it’s labeled, ‘Objectophilia’.” He shook his head. "I knew you loved technology McKay, but to actually go THAT far.. That's a bit weird.. Even for you." He sniffed, as he looked over the city's floors and walls, selfishly wondering why a city of all things caught McKay's attention and not him. "It's just a city." He stated disdainfully, masking the jealousy as best he could. 

Finally, after hearing it mocked out loud, in a clearly shame fueled joking fashion, he snapped and turned to John. Pointing at him, his other hand, clenched in a fist. 

“She’s more human and an infinitely more caring lover than you’ll ever be!” 

John leaned back, an amused teasing smile on his face. “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me! The relationship we have is stronger and more intimate compared to any of those one time alien flings you have all the time, Kirk!” 

John’s eyes widened, but he quickly ignored the attack to his love life and latched onto McKay’s admission, and he laughed. “You actually..!?” He pointed at him. “You.. I was joking, but you really..” He motioned the remote to the walls. “Get turned on by this?” 

“It’s more than that!” Rodney fumed and shook his head, his active fingers flexing subconsciously in his anger. 

“Oh really?” John snorted. “How?” 

“We love each other!” Rodney replied sternly to the challenge, then his eyes widened and he abruptly shut his mouth embarrassed for his outburst. Face flushed. He said too much. John would never understand. 

“Huh.” Sheppard snickered. “You really are lonely!” He rolled his eyes. “It’s a city, Rodney. Not a human being.” 

McKay stormed passed John to the transporters. 

It pissed him off. 

Not only was John mocking his VERY personally business, but to make it all the more soul crushing.. 

He had the stronger gene.

He could feel Atlantis stronger than anyone here, and he took her and their link for granted. 

Well.. If John couldn’t appreciate Atlantis for the technological marvel that she was, it just meant more for Rodney to love alone. After all, he knew her inside and out, so who else could love her more? Who else deserve it the most?

He gave the Colonel one last look, as his fingers hovered over a destination on the touch screen. “I almost feel sorry for you.. Almost..” 

“Sorry for me?” Sheppard raised an amused eyebrow. 

“You’ll never know what it’s like to have a meaningful relationship. You fucked up your marriage, and now you just tease and bash everyone around you, making yourself feel better, while you get by on your pretty looks and bravery for one night stands. I hope you know that they’re meaningless and empty. Your looks won’t last forever, and eventually you’ll be too old to play heroics. In the end, you’re going to end up sad and alone.” 

John blinked. He never heard Rodney talk like this. This wasn’t playful banter. He was serious. Sheppard shook that thought from his head. Nah.. He was just hurt that he teased his Atlantis crush.. Rodney’s self centered barrier was much stronger than a few meaningless laughs.. Right? 

“Well?” Sheppard smirked, continuing the banter, despite Rodney’s dark tone. “At least that’ll only happen when I’m older..” He shrugged with a grin. “Besides.. You’re a year younger than me, yet you’re losing your hairline, everyone thinks you’re a selfish asshole and you’re fucking a wall.. So.. My life can’t get much worse than yours, can it?” He winked. 

Rodney said nothing, but a slight tremble was visible as he touched the panel, and in less time than it took for a blink of an eye, he disappeared from John’s view. 

Sheppard gazed into the silent emptiness of the hallway. 

For some reason, the lack of a response from Rodney, and the suffocating quiet that surrounded him, hit him harder than he was willing to admit, even to himself, and he wasn’t sure why.


End file.
